Eco fined over composting odour issues

According to the Environment Agency, complaints regarding odour at the Dorset-based composters site in Parley which is located near residential houses, local business parks and Bournemouth Airport date as far back as 2006.

Bournemouth Magistrates Court heard last week (April 16) that despite being issued with various warning letters, Eco failed to address the problem and in March 2011 the company accepted a formal caution from the Agency for breaching the odour condition of its permit.

The odour complaints continued into 2013 when they increased in number of frequency. In October 2013 the Agencys national odour expert visited the composting site and recommended a number of improvements.

Eco currently processes 150,000 tonnes of organic material at Parley, and has recently received planning permission from Dorset county council to add an anaerobic digestion plant to the site. The firm treats an additional 100,000 tonnes treated across three other facilities.

Eco was also served with four enforcement notices to ensure future compliance with its permit.

The notices require the company to move from a block to an open-windrow system for both its green and in-vessel composting, improve the aeration of the sites leachate lagoons, improve its food reception building and produce a new environmental system and odour management plan.

Investment

Eco has so far invested 1 million in the Parley site to eliminate the odours, which includes the purchase of a 250,000 compost windrow turner, new pre-screening and screening processes and a re-organisation of the 13 acre site with food waste to be processed at another location in Dorset.

Earlier this month, the Environment Agency said there had been a significant improvement in tackling odour at the site, with the firm now compliant with three out of the four notices (see letsrecycle.com story).

Speaking after the prosecution, Stephanie Marriott of the Environment Agency said: The good news is the operator has now complied with three of the notices and is on course to comply with the fourth very soon. Since December 2013 they have worked closely with us and made significant on-site improvements. They have stopped their in-vessel composting activities.

Trelawney Dampney, managing director of Eco, reiterated to letsrecycle.com the firms commitment to addressing odour control at the Parley site, confirming that processing of food waste was now conducted off-site.